While Island County’s current year budget is still on target, the county still must hold a public hearing next month to approve amendments to allow for unforeseen expenditures and additional revenues.

According to Island County Budget Director Elaine Marlow, the expenditures range from $3,832 for flood lights and minor repairs at the Family Resource Center in Oak Harbor, to a $714,000 transfer to the county’s Juvenile Detention Center fund.

Marlow said the county has approximately $2 million in its fund balance, which is intended for just such purposes. The fund balance is a portion of the county’s cash account that works much like a reserve.

“This group of commissioners have built up (county finances) during the good times, and that will help us through the tough times,” she said.

Marlow said it’s common to dip into the fund balance reserve, as the main source of the county’s revenue is the twice-yearly collection of property taxes.

In December, the Board of Island County Commissioners approved a 1-percent property tax increase in order to balance the budget.

Commissioner Mac McDowell said at that time the increase was needed to keep pace with escalating labor costs, such as a 23-percent increase in insurance premiums.

Marlow said the biggest issue in the 2003-04 budget is labor negotiations, with two contracts still to be negotiated with the Deputy Sheriff’s Guild and the prosecuting attorney’s Teamsters Union.

Dick Toft, the county’s human resources director, said negotiations with the prosecuting attorney’s union are almost complete. He said he expects the county to be sitting down with the deputies soon. Toft anticipates it will be a four- to six-month process to hammer out a three-year contract.

While the county laid off 13 people in 2002 to balance the budget, this year has seen a few positions reinstated or created.

“We’re in a wait and see mode right now,” Toft said.

He noted the county currently has 11 positions open and advertised, and has received more than 420 applications.

“There are a lot of folks out there looking for work,” he said.

A new position of associate planner and code enforcement officer was recently created, funded jointly by the county’s public works and planning departments.

But even the county’s best-laid plans could be upset by tax-cutting champion Tim Eyman and the state’s voters. Marlow said if Eyman’s latest initiative — which is worded to cut local property taxes by 25 percent — passes, it would mean a $1.3 million to $1.4 million loss for Island County.

“2005 will be a real challenging year for us,” she said.